3Lrtruputi5.
A deputation from the Lancashire Reformers' Union, headed by several Members of Parliament, waited UponIord John Russell, on Satur- day, to claim for Lancashire a larger share of the seats distributed than that allotted to the country in the Reform Bill. Mr. George Wilson was the leading spokesman. His argument was that, as Lancashire, contains one-eighth of the population of England and Wales, and pays one-eighth of the property-tax, so it ought to return one-eighth of the Members re- turned in England and Wales. It is the premier county in point of population. While the wealth of the rest of the country has only in- creased 80 per cent, the wealth of Lancashire has increased 233 per cent since 1831. Its population, in 1831, was 1,052,000; in 1859, it was esti- mated at 2,371,752. Mr. Wilson drew minute contrasts between the population of other counties and groups of counties and Lancashire, to show, on his population and property principle, how unfairly it has been treated. Mr. J. Heywood and Mr. Bailey, M.P., supported these views.
Lord John Russell would not enter into a discussion. The statements made to him should be duly considered ; but he could not hold out any hope that a bill, going much further than the present bill, could be carried.
A crowded meeting of operative bakers was held at Exeter Hall on Wednesday. evening, Lord Shaftesbury presiding, to promote an agitation for shortening their hours of work from twenty or more to twelve, from four a.m. to four p.m. There are from 10,000 to 12,000 bakers in the metropolis, working for the most part in cellars and other unhealthy places, and dying off, on the average, at forty-two years of age. Lord Ebury, the Reverend Richard Burgess, Mr. Coninghai and others ad- dressed the meeting. Resolutions condemning the system under which the bakers now worked were passed unanimously.
At the Court of Bankruptcy on Tuesday, Mr. Linklater, on the part of the assignees of the Royal British Bank stated, that they would pay a further dividend of 6d. in the pound on the 4th or 5th of April. This, with the dividends already declared, would make a total of 15s. in the pound paid to the creditors. The creditors were so numerous that it had been found de- sirable to arrange for the use of the rotunda in the Bank of England.
Two men were tried at the Middlesex Sessions on Monday, the one, Beho, for stealing silver forks and spoons from the house of Mr. W. Mayd in Montagu Square, the other, Sheldon, for receiving the same. Mr. Meyd's servants, in his absence from home, formed an acquaintance with two men, "Silly George" and Beho, let them into the house, and also into the knowledge of the plate there. The housemaid went out one day to Hackney. Beho and Silly George were jovial with the cook that day ; George went out for some brandy, and, it appears, let in a third party, who extracted the plate from the dressing-room. Silly George pretended to be tipsy, and broke two glasses to divert the attention of cook from the look- breaking going on upstairs. Silly George and Beho soon found excuse to join their comrade. A little girl who had been servant to Beho, was the clue to his and Sheldon's haunts. Sheldon was acquitted ; Beho was sen- tenced to three years' penal servitude.
At the Middlesex Sessions, on Tuesday, the Assistant-Judge, on taking his seat, announced to the bar that Mr. Creasy had been appointed to the office of Chief Justice of Ceylon. He said he was not aware, until he came into court, that the appointment had been conferred upon
At the close of the Reverend Thomas Richardson's lecture in the church of St. George's-in-the-East on Sunday, a body of young men took posses- sion of the choristers' seats. The rector ordered them out, stating that he was " legally the freeholder of the church." They refused to go. Mr. King then dragged one of them off the seat by the collar and had -hira locked up in the vestry. A second young man shared the same fate. Clothes were torn, but policemen refused to interfere, as nobody would give Mr. King in custody. On Monday, a numerous body of the parishioners of St. George's-in-the East applied at the Thames Police Court for summonses against the Reverend Bryan King and the Reverend Thomas Dove Dove for assault. Severalsummonses were granted. After some remarks from Mr. Smith, one of the complainants, kr. 'Yardley granted a summons against the Reverend Bryan King, and said the sooner these feuds ended the better. They had become almost intolerable. He hoped Mr. Smith would go to the superior courts, and both parties would obtain a good dose of litigation. He almost feared the people of St. George's-in-the-East had their Monday'a amusement at too cheap a rate ; it ought to be more expensive. Mr. King and Mr. Dove, after a private hearing, have, it is said, been fined.
Henry Francis Richardson, secretary to the Council of the London Vo- lunteer Rifle Brigade, was examined at the Mansion-house on Tuesday, on the charge of stealing the sum of 61. 10s. 10d. and other money, the pro- perty of George Montagu Hicks, commanding officer of the brigade. Rich- ardson assured the detective who arrested him that the money was due to him ; and he advanced the same plea in court. He conducted his own de- fence, and was remanded with permission to put in bail, himself in 10004 and two sureties in 5001. each, with twenty-four hours' notice to the solicitor for the prosecution.
Marie Julie Ventre, the young Frenchwoman, whose case we stated a fortnight since—that of obtaining situations under false names, and em- bezzling, articles of wearing apparel from her employers—was tried at the Middleeex Sessions on Wednesday, found guilty of stealing property value 101. from her master Mr. Francis Little, and sentenced to five years penal servitude. It came out in evidence, that the prisoner had been in the ser- vice of Lady Somerset about a fortnight, and in that time robbed her of pro- perty worth 2007.
At the Marlborough Police Court, on Monday, Thomas Spencer was ex- trained on a charge of stabbing Thomas Paddock at Nat Langham's, a public house in Leicester Square. Spencer bad tahen some money out of Pad- dock'spocket which Paddock asked him for—" heOpencer,) came towards me. I cannot say who struck first, but a struggle ensued, and I felt mveelf stabbed and called out." It appears to have been a drunken brawl. Spen- cer. was very desperate. The knife was broken in a wound, and the medical certificate stated that the injured man had been severely cut about the head and face. Spencer was remanded for a week.
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